Tag Archives: The West Point History of the Civil War

Holiday Gift Guide 2016: The Year’s Best Coffeetable Books (Part Two)

Something so hot it’s Frozen! Featuring nearly 20 pop-ups from bestselling artist and pop-up guru Matthew Reinhart, Frozen: A Pop-Up Adventure (Disney Publishing, $40), is an eye-popping work of art revisits the enduring story of FrozenElsa and Anna’s remarkable adventure lives on in a magnificent display of paper engineering and artistic devotion. Frozen Pop-Up is a vibrant tribute to these beloved characters and teaches readers of all ages to let it go.


Audrey: The 50s
(Dey Street, $45) is a 
stunning photographic compilation showcasing Hepburn’s iconic career in the ’50s, the decade that solidified her place as one of the world s greatest stars in film and fashion. The tome is crammed with photos during the early days of her career, and in fashion photo shoots by top photographers who adored and immortalized her. Also on call: Beautifully restored advertisements, fan magazine layouts, international film posters and lobby cards.

X marks the spot. Again. Celebrate the return of one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time with a new, revised edition of The Complete X-Files (Insight Editions, $39.99), a detailed guide featuring exclusive material from the brand-new season. Returning after more than a decade off the air, the 10th season of The X-Files promises to be one of the most anticipated television events of 2016. The book takes readers into the show’s creator Chris Carter’s never-before-seen archives with explanations of unsolved plots, breakdowns of popular episodes, a discussion of the FBI’s paranormal investigations bureau and other insider information.

The Art of Archer (Dey Street Books, $29.99) is a comprehensive, fully illustrated and highly visual guide to everything behind-the-scenes of the award-winning animated series. Bonus!
There’s a foreword by Christian Slater. Featuring concept art, exclusive interviews, script excerpts and the never-before-released original pitch for the series, this amazing collection offers an utterly unique view of the Archer creative process.

For the first time in more than 40 years, the United States Military Academy has authorized a new military history series that will bear the name West Point. That text has been updated repeatedly, but now it has been completely rewritten and The West Point History of the Civil War (Simon & Schuster, $55) is the first volume to result in a new series of military histories authorized by West Point. The book combines the expertise of preeminent historians commissioned by West Point, hundreds of maps uniquely created by cartographers under West Point’s direction, and hundreds of images, many created for this volume or selected from West Point archives.

Missed the red-hot exhibition on the visionary work and fervent imagination of director Guillermo del Tor? Fret not. Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks and Collections  (Insight Editions, $29.99) is the perfect accompaniment to the exhibition, which focuses on del Toro s creative process, including the well-defined themes that he obsessively returns to in all his films, the journals in which he logs his ideas, and the vast and inspiring collection of art and pop culture ephemera that he has amassed at his private man cave, Bleak House. Filled with imagery from the exhibit, including favorite pieces of art that del Toro has chosen for the exhibit, and pertinent journal pages, the book will further delve further into the director s world through exclusive in-depth interviews and commentary from notable figures in the art world.

Since its founding, West Point has taught its cadets the history of warfare, and since 1847 it has done so through a singular text, The West Point History of Warfare. That text has been updated repeatedly, and now through a unique partnership with West Point graduates, the text has been completely rewritten. Volume 1 concluded with the midpoint of World War II in 1942; now the  latest edition The West Point History of World War II, Volume 2 (Simon & Schuster, $55) begins, covering all aspects of the war.  As with previous volumes, the book boasts rich, full-color illustrations with unique tactical maps created by expert cartographers in collaboration with West Point’s military historians, as well as dozens of graphics uniquely created for this volume and hundreds of historical images, many of which are from the West Point archives.

Explore the greatest art from over two decades of Marvel’s Deadpool comics with the Deadpool: Drawing the Merc with a Mouth  (Insight Editions, $45), a nifty (and deluxe) book celebrates more than 20 years of Deadpool comic art, showcasing iconic covers, stunning panels, and other amazing art from the Marvel Comics archives. 91pyas30ehlFilled with stunning art that showcases Deadpool’s off-the-wall comics career, from his origins in the pages of The New Mutants to his outlandish adventures with the Deadpool Corps and his team-ups with Marvel Comics A-listers such as Spider-Man and Wolverine, this book is a visually striking journey into Wade Wilson’s bizarre world. The book also comes with an exclusive print of the Reilly Brown cover art.

A New History of Animation (Thames & Hudson, $85) guides readers through the history animation from around the world. Topics covered include optical toys and magic lanterns; early cinema, magic, and the foundations of the animation industry; the relationship of comics to early animation; animation as a modern art in ’20s Europe; the emergence of the major US studios; animation style at Disney, Fleischer, and Warner Bros., types of comedy; animation during wartime; stop-motion; working directly on film; youth audiences and animation in the ’60s; early television animation; Book Coveradvertising; games; animation from Eastern Europe; the Disney renaissance; creator driven television series; the development of college programs; short films and festivals; the rise of computer-generated animation;  franchising; Hayao Miyazaki and others in the Japanese animation industry.  The book contains 460 color illustrations, ranging from studio productions to independently produces shorts, visual effects, paintings, studio documentation and more.

A beautiful, comprehensive volume of Bob Dylan’s lyrics, from the beginning of his career through the present day—with the songwriter’s edits to dozens of songs, appearing in The Lyrics: 1961-2012 (Simon & Schuster, $60) for the first time.
The Lyrics is a comprehensive and definitive collection of Dylan’s most recent writing as well as the early works that are such an essential part of the canon.41rib8fmsl Well known for changing the lyrics to even his best-loved songs, Dylan has edited dozens of songs for this volume, making The Lyrics a must-read for everyone from fanatics to casual fans.

The star and stunning beauty whose adventurous life and mysterious death still keeps the public searching for answers gets her just due in Natalie Wood: Reflections on a Legendary Life (Running Press, $35), the first family-authorized book on the actress. Featured are original writings by Natalie’s husband Robert Wagner and daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner; reminiscences by Natalie s friends and fellow celebrities;51eckyrfhjl informative essays on the star’s most important films; and a Natalie Wood Fashion Timeline, showcasing Wood s embodiment of each major fashion trend from the mid-’50s to the early ’80s. Most illuminating of all is a lengthy excerpt from a never-before-published text entitled Private Person: Public Property that Natalie hand-wrote in 1966, revealing the star s own thoughts on life, love, family, and her films.

It’s time to get off the beaten path. Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura (Workman, $35), celebrates more than 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world. Talk about a bucket list: Here are natural wonders the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that’s so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia; Turkmenistan’s 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell; a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh;917e6bdwegl eccentric bone museums in Italy; or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England. The book revels in the weird, the unexpected, the overlooked, the hidden and the mysterious. It is a book to enter anywhere, and will be as appealing to the armchair traveler as the die-hard adventurer. Anyone can be a tourist.

No sounds of silence in this delightful book boasting the lyrics of Paul Simon. Welcome Lyrics 1964-2016 (Simon & Schuster, $35). Consequently, this presentation of all Simon’s songs in chronology (fortunately including all the numbers from Simon’s musical The Capeman, on which he collaborated with 71n1xwghvfl-1Nobel laureate Derek Walcott) is a pleasure to read straight through, like a novel or a biography, although it isn’t autobiographical, for quite often the singer of a song isn’t Paul Simon. Perhaps it’s you?